Try arborist's wood chips......they are often available for free from tree trimming operations.

And I find your post somewhat confusing. Cedar mulch is known to repel ticks and is a recommended mulch for that purpose so it is difficult to understand how bagged cedar mulch could be infested with ticks. And what is the concern about "chemicals" in the pathways? Cardboard is just processed wood pulp and is considered completely organic. And even synthetic carpet material is unlikely to leach anything of concern into the soil, much less be taken up by any nearby plants.

That's interesting about the ticks in cedar as I always thought cedar would repel most insects. I use a mix of chopped straw and shredded leaves, often on top of cardboard. Don't know your objections to cardboard but ticks would enjoy the leaves and straw so that's out for you.

On any straight portions you could use pieces of 1 x10" pine boards and use the 12" flat concrete stepping stones ($1.50 at Walmart) for the curved parts. Home Depot offers bulk pricing on them depending on how may you'd need and if you lay down landscape fabric under them the weeds would be minimal.

Then there is always the shredded rubber mulch but if you don't like cardboard they probably wouldn't appeal to you.

Dave

gardengal beat me to it ;-)

Gardengal, one year I bought many bags of cedar mulch with ticks that were crawling up my arms while spreading it. 10 bags! They were crawling up my shower walls when I showered that day. I also thought cedar was a repellent! And I love the smell. The store returned my money and I suspect there was more than cedar in the bags.

Cardboard has a ton of processing chemicals that I've researched. Look up "chemicals used in paper pulp manufacturing" for an eyeful. It isn't anything I want in my food.

Carpets as food material grosses me out. I'm a fiber artist and know what's in fiber manufacturing, so I won't use it. I don't want it decomposing with my food. I already had cancer.

I've done many searches to answer my question. I think solarizing cedar bags and hiring someone strong to help out or getting my son to help, would be the best for me. We have a lot of tree trimmers here. I could ask them.

Dave, I like the pine board idea and the curved blocks.

weed fabric

Interesting. I'd always thought that ticks love cedar, and live in the trees?

The point is neither cardboard nor carpet remnants are likely to leach anything of concern into the soil in concentrations that would be even measurable, let alone significant, and even less likely that any of these chemicals would be taken up by the plants. You are receiving far more chemical pollution on your garden from the air or rainwater.

It's a matter of picking your battles :-)

Gardengal, it's a mishigoss (my own weirdness) with me I guess. Doesn't make me feel good to be in my garden with cardboard and carpet. I live in the country, in a clearing in the woods, in a forest preserve by a 22 mile reservoir lake, in mountain foothills. Not much pollution here (I think). Why add to it?

Ticks are not tree dwellers :-) They live in leaf litter, grasses and brushy weeds and typically stay very close to the ground. Cedars - both eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) and western red cedar (Thuja plicata) - contain heavy concentration of phenols and terpenes that are naturally repellent to a wide range of insects. On of the reasons they are so highly recommended as mulches.

Wow, I've never heard of ticks infesting mulch before, that must have been horrifying. But from personal experience I can tell ya ticks have no problem being in cedar trees or other pines either. We tend to get more "tick drops" out of the cedars/pines than we do the deciduous trees around here. Ticks are a bane out here.

I'm probably not helpful to the OP because I do use old carpet or straw flake stacked on cardboard for my weed-free between and around beds. I also regularly garden spray with neem and essential oils, plant in a lot of "smelly" plants around the garden, and have a regime of treating my gardening clothes along with myself with homemade soaps/lotion/human-safe spray... and I don't have many ticks in the gardens despite their abundance elsewhere. I don't often find them on myself either.

Jacob, ticks live on the ground, in leaf litter, grasses and anything where they can attach to birds, rodents, deer, people, for their blood meal.

leave the weeds in the path and mow them as needed

I almost forgot, wanted to add... you could try using dry ice traps for the ticks to get rid of them too.

Pavers or bricks would work.

How about planting the rows with something that either does not grow too tall or can be easily mowed that also repels ticks. Steppable Thyme comes to mind (not sure if it truly repels ticks but it does repel some bugs).

I have the paths the width of the tiller and keeps weeds out that way.

Mine are grass. But it grows easily in my climate. It's the default ground cover if you mow.

For my garden paths, I put down mulched/chopped leaves that I save in bags from autumn, then I toss grass clippings and whatever I get from weeding and deadheading on top to hold it in place and keep it from tracking when wet. :)

In my case I live in a sweet spot, my neighbors have dozens of pine trees and they let me rake up as many pine needles as I can to use in the garden for paths and mulching. I pay them back during harvest time.

We use ground cover like they use in the nurseries to put their liners on. We use ground stakes to put it down. You can walk on it and it will last probably 3 - 5 years before needing to be replaced.

Well, you could just pour cement paths or have someone do it for you. Cement is 2 bucks a bag and if done properly it'll last many years.

Rodney

I use anything organic and on-hand...fall leaves, cardboard covered with wood chips, grass, straw. Just keep adding it and marveling at how quickly it disappears.

Lots of ideas here. Thanks.

For those who suggest leaves and grass in paths...that is a haven for ticks and disease. I already have Lyme disease and don't want any ticks in my pathways.

Cut grass and leaves go in the compost to decompose first before going into the beds. Ticks are a problem all over the world now. A pandemic just beginning to be realized and dealt with.

I like the idea of cement paths. Labor would be $$huge$$ though.

My paths are very very narrow (and getting narrower as I add plants!) so tilling and mowing aren't feasible. It's great to hear all these ideas, though. Gardens are so personal and individual.

Don't the big box stores have paving stones made from some concrete like stuff only a bit less heavy? I seem to remember some such but have forgotten exactly what it was.

✔ ✔

@ albert_135: Plasticrete? or something like that. I know what you are talking about. I've seen stuff at Menards- looks like regular pavers.. But made of or with plastic stuff, kind of like how there is plastic wood now. I've noticed them, and noticed they are kind of pricey for my budget.

I tend to pour my own pavers. I got a couple real molds, a circular with a woven border with a matching rectangular border piece, and a largish hexagon. And picked up a few sturdy heavy-duty kids toy bins on clearance at Michaels one year in a couple rectangle sizes. A 60 lb bag of concrete mix for 2-4 bucks depending can make 6-8 stones depending on what molds I'm using. I use petroleum jelly for the release agent. Sometimes I get fancy and set glass in the bottom of the mold before I pour.

I don't typically use the pavers I make around my veggie gardens though. For some reason, working on hard surface like that around my veggie gardens is unsatisfying to me. I tend to use them a bit more decoratively around some of my other garden beds- I find it much more aesthetically pleasing. This spring I was gifted with a large amount of windows from a contractor buddy that needed to clean out his barn- he's retiring and so has no real further use or space for stockpiling that kind of thing and knew I could use a greenhouse. So I'll be concentrating on making and stockpiling pavers for the floor of the new greenhouse I get to build.

Lowe's has rubber pavers.

https://m.lowes.com/pd/Rubberific-Brown-Paver-Common-16-in-x-16-in-Actual-16-in-x-16-in/3715056

They're kinda pricey but they aren't heavy and installation is easy. You can cut them to fit a curve.

Rodney